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scepticA wrote:

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That was the "high point," so to speak, of Russell power.

No, it wasn't.

The high point for him came just before the IC in this episode. The high point was his engineering of a Laura boot when he struck up a successful partnership with John. The plan was of course foiled when Laura won immunity. And yes, at that point, Russell becomes adrift. But between the feast and the IC, he was scrambling, working angles, striking out a couple of times, but finally connecting with a plan to oust a significant Galu player. Recognize!

(and note: None of the other FoaFoas told Russell that he was safe, or he didn't believe them.

Or he didn't believe what they, a defenseless minority, were told by someone in the dominant majority who had no credible reason to tell them absolutely anything about the majority's plans. Duh.

He wasted his totem,

He did not. He could not have known how the vote would go, and he had plenty of reasons to feel concerned.

With all the crazy uncertainly flying around camp at the last minute, that was absolutely the correct move for him to make. How many people have gone home with idols in their pockets when they should have been aware of the winds of change blowing? Russell was presented with incontrovertible evidence that all kinds of crazy possibilities were being discussed. And he knew that his idol was burned and targeted. The only decision he had to make -- and he explicitly voiced this -- was whether to protect Jaison with it or whether to protect himself with it. The correct answer to that question is ridiculously obvious: when in doubt, you cover your ass.

Sure, his position in the game sucks right now. But he came in as a physical threat in a minority tribe and successfully invested the one thing he had to offer -- his idol -- into an imminent boot of an enemy leader. As often happens on Survivor, fate intervened and foiled his plans: Laura won immunity. At this point, Russell did the only smart thing he could to ensure his own survival: he played a burnt idol.

His own distrust of others is his downfall. If you think everyone is your inferior it's hard to trust them.

This is Survivor. You trust other people to serve your own best interest ahead of theirs at your own peril. All trust in Survivor should be based on a common goal, e.g. the common target of Laura which Russell discovered he shared with John. In the exposed position Russell was in after burning his idol during the scramble that set up the Laura blindside, he couldn't afford to trust anyone to protect him nearly as well as his idol could. So he played it. An idol used when it turns out not to be needed is a hell of a lot better than an idol not used when it was needed. You might not, but I'm sure Brendan and Erik would agree with me.

Now Russell has to play the game from a position of weakness. Them's the breaks. But as far as I'm concerned, he's still playing a better game than what the people who are criticizing his strategy in this episode would have probably managed in that same situation.